A year after CTA service cuts and layoffs, rehired workers help weather the blizzard

Many laid-off CTA workers are still waiting to be called back

February 06, 2011|By Jon Hilkevitch | Getting Around

Richard Garrett, 43, drove a CTA bus for five years until he was laid off in February 2010. The furnace in his house broke and he and his wife, who is a dialysis patient, use space heaters and the kitchen stove to stay warm. (Zbigniew Bzdak, Chicago Tribune)

One year ago, on a cold but otherwise unspectacular winter day, the Chicago Transit Authority cut bus and rail service and laid off more than 1,000 workers as part of reductions to eliminate a budget deficit.

None of the service reductions has been restored, but because of attrition, more than half of the laid off workers were rehired in phases.

Many, in fact, were driving buses, operating trains and digging out rail stations and bus stops last week when the worst blizzard in nearly 45 years pummeled the Chicago area, leaving behind lessons that transportation agencies can attempt to explain away at their own peril.

Pace, understaffed and overwhelmed by the heavy snowfall, surrendered last Wednesday, completely shutting down all bus service in the suburbs and Chicago until Thursday.

Metra, the commuter railroad that riders could set their watches by, performed erratically after the storm began Tuesday, taking until Friday to resume normal schedules. Metra offered reduced service on four of its 11 lines, the worst being on routes operated for Metra by the Union Pacific Railroad, which in several cases at the last minute stranded passengers when it canceled trains that UP officials promised Metra it would run.

The CTA experienced problems, too, but overall it weathered the challenge remarkably well. Elevated trains often ran behind schedule, but they ran. Buses trudged along snowy streets that trapped passenger vehicles. And buses were dispatched to Lake Shore Drive to serve as emergency warming shelters for drivers caught in the hours-long mayhem there when traffic froze to a halt.

CTA bus driver Richard Garrett wanted to help, but he is still waiting to get his job back. Laid off on Feb. 7, 2010, just two days before his 43rd birthday, Garrett has had a rough ride. He hasn't been able to find a job that pays more than his unemployment benefits, and he has fallen behind on most of his bills, he said. He and his wife, who is a dialysis patient, have gone a year without medical insurance.

"I pride myself in doing a good job and trust me, I would have reported to work early during the blizzard,'' Garrett, a five-year CTA veteran, said last week from his South Side home where space heaters and the kitchen stove are used for warmth because Garrett cannot afford to repair his furnace.

Garrett has more seniority than many of the part-time bus drivers recalled to work at the CTA, but the transit agency maintains separate lists for full-time and part-time employees.

"Beyond that, I don't have a prediction for how many others would be rehired,'' Gaffney said. "It depends on attrition.''

Irene London, 48, whose job was to clean CTA rail cars, said it was a "total bombshell'' when she got the news a year ago that she was being laid off. With seven years of service at the CTA, London, who lives in Skokie, thought she was safe.

She is now high on the CTA recall list. But with a son who is hospitalized with a blood disease and being forced to borrow money after depleting her savings, London is feeling the stress as she waits.

"It has been a horrific year,'' she said. "I am praying I will be going back.''

Bus drivers, bus mechanics and other personnel took the brunt of the more than 1,000 layoffs when bus service was slashed 18 percent last year. Rail service was cut 9 percent, and 112 unionized rail employees were laid off. But circumstances have worked against the speedy recall of London and other rail-car servicers, who account for the largest group of rail employees who have not been recalled.

Under the direction of Mayor Richard Daley, the CTA began an apprenticeship program in 2008 to give a second chance to convicted criminals released from prison. Last year when the CTA laid off about 50 car servicers who earned $16 to $25.20 an hour, the transit agency hired car service apprentices at $9.50 an hour with no benefits, union officials said. The apprenticeships last for only nine months.

"I don't want to see second-chance people thrown out on the street. But I have full-time car servicers with eight years of tenure who were laid off and are still suffering,'' said Robert Kelly, Local 308 president of the Amalgamated Transit Union.

"The apprentice program saves the CTA a lot of money, but we need to get working people back to work before they lose their homes,'' Kelly said.

In light of the budget crises looming over the CTA, the city and the state, Kelly said he is "enormously worried'' about more layoffs ahead.

Although the CTA is not planning additional layoffs or service cuts this year, CTA customers cannot be blamed for feeling anxious too.